How To Deal
by thatweirdchicknextdoor
Summary: Maybe getting in trouble and risking a scratch on his seemingly perfect permanent record was worth it. Maybe intercepting a fight and risk getting hurt was worth her time of day. Maybe, just maybe putting a burden on each other's shoulders would get them out the other way. High school. AU. Not based on the movie and books.
1. Chapter 1

How to deal

Summary: Selfless behaviour had somehow put him in worse situations. Sometimes, Itachi really wished he could just ignore it all without anymore consequences. High school fic. AU. Non-massacre.

Rated: T

Author Note: It is not based on the Mandy Moore movie. This will be a multi-chapter fic if reviews and popularity permits. If not, there will be better writings.

Chapter One: How to Deal with Violence

...

Konoha wasn't exactly the smallest of towns, neither the largest. This is neither the smallest romance story neither the largest. Perfect for a town of this proportion.

...

"Fight at the baseball diamond between Kisame Hoshikage and Rock Lee!" Konohamaru, the modern Artemis zoomed around lunch hour, spreading the news. This happened around once a month, if it were exam week, the chances lowered. Though, what everyone found strange was that this particular fight was located somewhere so exposed, most battles happened in the alleyways.

Normally, Sakura Haruno, a rather regular girl with proper pink hair would pay no attention to the matter until afterwards. Afterwards, meaning that she would offer to take care of the wounded. However, she knew Rock Lee. And sickened by the violence and his marriage proposals, she frankly had enough of it.

Despite the protests of her good friends, the girl rushed to the field, spotting a crowd buzzing with bets and support for either sides. It pissed her off, and she that day, may have caused more bruises by roughly pushing the crowd to get through than what accumulated on the two contenders.

Bravely, she shuffled in between the fighters.

"That's enough, both of you."

Kisame smirked, the lady was half his size, she couldn't do much damage anyways. He watched the surroundings get rowdier and had planned to push the girl away until he met eyes with the party crasher of the century. He made a face to counter the apathetic, yet nagging expression on his best friend. It didn't do much. Sighing, Kisame gave up.

Rock Lee moved to Sakura's side, his bushy brows furrowed in shame.

"I apologize for challenging you!" He bowed, "although I would continue this fight, my one true love asked me to stop! I must keep myself at the most youthful for our future children! I cannot allow anything that will risk testicular trauma!"

The many things going through her pink head had her wondering whether she should have intercepted.

Her thoughts however were stopped by the sound of Kiba, whom she affectionately nicknamed "Dog Boy" moaned a classic "Aw… Let's go everyone."

The crowd, all disappointed, left. Letting a sigh of relief, Sakura made her way back inside the administrative building. The sound of not so uplifting jeers toward her ruined her spirit, but it also helped that she knew that was the right thing to do.

Sakura sat back at her table, with her friends, whom were completely shocked.

"Why such a disappointed crowd?" Naruto observed, oblivious to everything.

"Idiot, she just stopped the fight." Sasuke answered.

"First, fish boy decided to try against the teacher, now his replica of a student…" Ino drawled, clearly exhausted from the cramming she did in the late night.

Sakura sighed, observing the lunchroom; she heard many not so positive comments about herself. A hand on her shoulder startled her and stopped the negative reverie.

"Sakura, don't let them get to ya'" Naruto smiled genuinely, "you did it for selfless reasons."

Sakura nodded, and Naruto pulled out a cup ramen from his stash found in his bag.

The questioning as to where the blond could get so many cups stopped a long time ago. During those days, they all concluded that he had some sort of pact with a demon.

"Go heat some up." He wrapped his hands around hers, in between their hands, the ramen was cradled. It had almost become tradition to get rid of bad thoughts through this junk food.

"Yeah." She stood from the table to find a microwave.

Sakura located a microwave at the other end of the school, an area that was rarely ventured. Most likely, the microwave was deliberately placed there in order to keep from a large amount of students waiting in line.

The two minutes needed for the substance to turn edible proved too long. Bored, she watched the cup rotate, and counted every full turn.

"Hello," she jumped as a familiar yet unfamiliar low voice was heard. Turning to see her best friend's brother, Itachi Uchiha, she was confused, and she didn't even hear footsteps.

"Hi." She smiled in a friendly, unsure manner.

"Sakura, I'd like to thank you for intercepting and keeping peace a little longer." Normally, Itachi would have stopped it anyways.

"Oh…" she nodded, "I was just sick of it. It's nothing."

A gentle smile swept across his handsome face, she blushed, turning away so he wouldn't notice. "It's-"

The microwave beeped, she quickly opened it and grabbed the cup, "I have to go, but thank you, at least one person acknowledged my intentions the right way."

The sounds of her steps lightly bounced back through echoes in the empty hallway.

...

Ino sighed in exhaustion and boredom while keeping watch on the empty flower shop. She really needed a boyfriend or something along the lines of that. Her math homework lied still on the counter as none of it was getting done. The sound of the entrance bells rung in her ears as warning to wake up. However, who came through the door, was what kept her awake.

A tall, dark, and handsome, yet too scrawny to be her type, Itachi Uchiha walked through. Her reaction may have been worse than apparent boredom, it was a marvelled stare.

He glanced towards her general direction and she immediately turned her head away. Of course, her peripheral vision kept track of him, and it was absolutely beautiful. Men and flowers went together so well. Especially the way he seemed so fascinated by them. Inside, she was gushing. It showed a small bit by how she played with her platinum blond hair.

Extremely distracted, she didn't even realise that he had finished choosing and was already at the till.

"Excuse me." His deep voice melted her.

"Oh!"

Flustered, she began quickly checking off each item, a bonsai tree, a blue orchid, and a gift card.

"Is this for a girlfriend?" She said. Her flirty tone was imminent.

He shook his head, "My father forgot his anniversary with my mother, I'm pretty sure Sasuke told you about it."

She nodded, "Coverin' for the pops," she smiled, calming down. "I can relate, but most of the time, I enjoy their meltdowns. You're not as sadistic, are ya'?"

"I prefer peace."

"Hmm…" she met eyes with him, "you'll make a good boyfriend, Uchiha, let's hope you rubbed off on Sasuke."

He laughed, "Thank you."

He left, leaving soft, graceful footsteps behind.

Right away, she put her coat on and locked the shop, crossing the street to reach the little café Sakura worked at.

The lack of people in the café made the minimalist design feel emptier than usual. The only warmth was Franz Ferdinand playing in the background, one of their slow, acoustic songs.

"You know forehead, when is Tsunade gonna turn this place into a bar?" Ino walked in and took a window seat, observing a couple holding hands.

Sakura attempted to clean the stains off of her apron, a customer had decided to give her hell.

"As long as I'm around… Never." She pulled out her drink cart, "lucky for you, there's still some hot water left, on the house."

"Sweet," Sakura placed a teacup and poured some water in a porcelain pot, "speaking of sweet, guess who just came to buy plants."

"Who?"

"Itachi!" She said excited as she watched the inside of the pot brew, "he has great taste, bought an orchid and a bonsai tree!"

"For whom?" she placed a sugar pot in the middle of the table.

"His father forgot his anniversary with Miko."

"I love how you still call her "Miko"…" Sakura snapped her fingers, "oh yeah, Sasuke told me that Itachi does that every year because of Fugaku's horrible memory."

"That Itachi is definitely the dream…" Ino gushed.

"I thought you said he wasn't your type." Sakura pointed out.

"I was twelve, and this was before I had heard him speak." Ino smirked, staring at Sakura "you're blushing…"

"I am not blushing!"

"Calm down! Plus shut up, "Dark of the Matinee" is playing…"

Sakura took her cart with her to the kitchen, letting Ino contemplate whatever she had on her mind. Then, she found a reflective surface and took her long hair out of her ponytail.

Calculating the length of time she knew the Uchihas, she wondered how she didn't know that much about Itachi. The guy was illusive, and when he was around, his presence was often ignored. Why was it, after ten years, only now was she really giving a thought about him. Actually, that was a lie, because he was always on the back of her mind. He was labelled as the sort of person to only dream of.

...

"Mr. Kakashi, you actually accepted my challenge?" Kisame growled, cracking his fists.

"Yes, if you manage to get a few good hits, I will reconsider your horrible essay. If you don't… Well detention."

"Enough talk, let's fight!" Kisame came towards the silver haired professor speeding with a ready fist. With ease, Kakashi dodged, adding to the frustration and power of his missing hits.

Itachi had immediately heard of this rumour and wanted to see if it was true. He sped up the stairs to check the roof, and of course, he found Kisame and Kakashi. Kakashi hadn't even lost a bead of sweat, or rather developed one.

Kisame took one more swing before being completely restrained by the wrists. Itachi recognized those moves, the man knew martial arts.

"Look at that," despite wearing a mask, anyone could tell that he was amused, "you brought back-up."

Kisame glanced toward his friend, "Itachi, stay out of this."

Kakashi threw Kisame to the ground, "Too late, detention, the both of you." Itachi lost his breath, and already the sun began making his skin painful.

"Y-You bastard… Itachi didn't even do anything!"

"He got himself involved; it's an issue of character…" The man, only a slight bit taller, stood straight, a rarity, and walked towards the entrance, "Both of you, my class."

They obeyed, and quietly walked to the messy classroom. Kakashi straightened a desk that blocked his way to his very own, and sat down.

"You two, will be cleaning and organizing my room. Don't worry, I won't put this on your permanent records. After that, you two will offer your services to the school janitor, starting tomorrow morning."

Kisame snorted in disgust.

"No attitude, or Gai will be happy to offer a rematch. The only difference is that you will be cuffed to a pole." Kisame gulped, Gai was a particularily tough opponent.

The sun was already setting, and the duo had been cleaning for hours. Yet, when they seemed to be almost finished, a new mess was discovered. They had found things such as literary porn scattered around. Making them really wonder what kind of guy Kakashi really was.

...

Jiraya sat in his messy lounge drinking cheaply made coffee. Ruffling through his already messy hair, he pondered whether Kakashi would give him some pretty girls as assistants. Of course, it could've been a cruel joke.

It was, he thought to himself as heavy knocks accompanied by deep voices had come to his ear.

"Come in." The pair let themselves in, and Jiraya examined the boys from head to toe, "you, kid that looks like you're having a lack of oxygen, you lift don't ya'?"

Kisame nodded, flexing his muscles, "You got it, oldie."

Jiraya rolled his eyes, "And you, pretty boy, your hair is long enough that you could enter and clean the girl's bathroom without issue."

Itachi smiled and nodded, "I've heard worse."

"What's your names?" Jiraya tapped his index finger on his mug.

"I'm Kisame Hoshikage and the pretty boy's name is Itachi." Kisame sighed, "Itachi has done nothing to deserve this, if you can please listen to me, this is entirely my fault."

Those words may have been the sincerest anyone has ever heard coming out of Kisame's mouth.

"Forget it, Kisame."

"Sir, you have to realize that poor Itachi here won't be pretty anymore if his bags get any worse!"

"Okay!" Jiraya stood up, "First job… clean the staff room and make sure all their mugs are sparkling." They went off, stupefied.

Itachi polished everything until the mugs were literally sparkling, by then, Jiraya and Kisame had left him to do his thing.

"So what exactly happened? This kid's an overachiever." Jiraya said, as they lounged on the musty sofa.

"He tried to stop my fight with Kakashi, well; he just arrived at the scene. By then, Kakashi had my ass roasted."

"I know how to fix this, and I need more man power around here anyways." Jiraya stood up to stretch, "remember that being a janitor isn't all that bad, for example, place fake vomit in the girl's change room, and voila! Instant access…" Perverted, with bad intent, this man needed to stay away from schools and women in general. Yet, Kisame couldn't help but idolized him.

After a long day, the two returned to the dingy lounge, a smirk appeared on their boss's face when he saw their exhausted state.

"I don't think you guys realize just how awesome of a janitor I am." He pulled out a key, it wasn't very special, it just looked like a key. "This is the master key to everything in the school, with this key, I have deliberately locked the girl's change room and some of them actually started changing in the hallway because-"

"That's sexual harassment." Kisame spoke up.

"My point exactly, Itachi, you look far more responsible, so I entrust this wonderful key to you."

Little did they know that Jiraya had about ten of those keys.

Maybe being under punishment wasn't too bad. Because Itachi had the key, he could go to the roof whenever he wanted. After all the stress, he didn't have much else to do, so he viewed the wonderful view the school gave him. Daydreaming, a pop of pink disturbed it, surrounding the pink was what looked to be his little brother's well known black chicken shaped head and two blonds.

Was her hair naturally pink? Why was it, out of all the women in school, she chose to intercept the fight? How come Sasuke never attempted to have a romantic relationship with that girl?

Maybe Itachi wanted to know more about her, and maybe he didn't.

...

It was an unusually busy Tuesday evening, maybe Tsunade had finally shown her breasts, but Sakura concluded that was inconclusive as the customer demographic was mostly female, sprinkled with the occasional guy enjoying themselves.

The noise however was made almost unbearable but she thanked the gods for Bizet playing in the background.

"Sakura, table eleven needs service." Shizune, her good friend and co-worker pat her on the shoulder.

Sakura blindly took her notepad and walked straight to table eleven, "Hi! How may I- Itachi!" She smiled a grand smile, "What would you li-"

A change of music, Tsunade had put on a disgustingly catchy pop song, "Symphony in C major was playing," she gritted her teeth, "give me a moment."

Itachi took a moment to take in what he had just seen, his dark eyes only in slight shock. First off, Sakura worked at 'Café à La Blonde' a café he frequented, and secondly, this girl fussed over whether classical music was playing or not. Judging by the yelling in the background, she really fussed.

She scurried back to his table, "Ok-" Sakura stopped to listen what suddenly played, the opening of 'Hotel California'. "Classic rock-slash-pop, I guess this is the silver lining."

Itachi laughed, giving one of those heart-warming smiles she could barely stand.

"Okay, what would you like?"

...

Itachi left the café, satisfied with his orders and what he learned that day. He now knew that Sakura Haruno was a stubborn, friendly girl who enjoyed classical music. Maybe she even played an instrument.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello!**

**It's been a while since I updated, and I like where this is going. However, the first chapter kind of sucked, (In my opinion) so I will fix it. **

**Also, does anyone know of any good otome games in english for free? I've played café rouge and all those online ones, but they don't keep my fancy. **

* * *

Chapter 2:

Somehow, the tension built instead of collapsed between Mikoto and Fugaku. The orchid and Bonsai stood still right in the middle of the table, and black sequined bows decorated the pot holding them in. Sasuke and Itachi both waited and watched in the crack of the doorway. Every year, they helped their father remember and support the choosing of the anniversary gifts. The only reason they did was that it was similar to watching one of those really interesting animal planet specials.

"Dad's not holding up..." Sasuke said, hushed.

"Yeah," Itachi concurred, "and we should've brought Shisui since he just got married." Shisui was Itachi's and Sasuke's cousin that had a clue about everything except women. The real surprise was the fact he was able to meet someone and get married. The very thought of that amused the younger teen.

At that point, Mikoto tilted her head to examine the gift, "What's so special about today?"

Everyone went pale, and this family was known to be the limit of how pale a human could get.

"No way... She remembered last year..." Sasuke watched his father closely as both relief and frustration came into view. Fugaku walked towards Mikoto from one end of the table, he took her hands and nodded.

"It's our anniversary today."

Right then, Mikoto had shock came to her expression, and her perfect time keeping record was ruined. For the first time in a long time, Fugaku had the upper hand.

"Itachi, if we narrate this, would it be possible for it to air on animal planet?" Sasuke said, amused while taking a spoonful of yogurt.

"Quite possibly…"

Mikoto took a moment to warm her cool hands in Fugaku's borderline sweaty palms. "Sweetheart, I apologize for not remembering. As a gift, today and tonight I will do absolutely anything you like…" She slowly moved took her hands out of his grasp and traced along the middle of his chest with her index finger.

"Ew." The brothers cringed.

The phone rang, interrupting the married couple's moment. Leaving Itachi and Sasuke satisfied with their work for their parent's anniversary. Being boys, they went back to what they had to normally do. Until Fugaku screamed Itachi's name, this disruption was worldwide.

Was he in trouble or what?

Itachi rushed to the kitchen, where there was an atmosphere of love. Mikoto had already left, leaving him with an angry Fugaku.

"Firstly, thank you, and secondly, what the fuck?" Fugaku held the cordless phone, shaking it. "Mr. Hatake had called to say that you are on janitorial duty for being involved in a fight."

Itachi was of no mood to defend. He simply raised an eyebrow and calmly said, "It's not going in my permanent record, if I don't do it, it will."

"That's what Hatake explained, I don't know what to do, but I trust that you don't step on anymore glass just before graduation." Fugaku should have known that Kisame would eventually leave some sort of influence on his son. "I won't ground you, but if this happens again…" Fugaku took far too long to think of a punishment, "Uh… No more television…"

Itachi sucked in his cheeks, looking to the side, "Um… Ok…"

…

"Ah!" Sakura dropped everything she had to eat when she collided with Shino. As usual, he hadn't said anything, just what seemed to be a glare through almost opaque shades. He walked off, leaving Sakura with an inedible lunch.

"Damn it," She had just finished a fitness period with the craziest of gym teachers, Guy. It was clear that she was more than starving.

One of the patrolling teachers had asked her to get a mop, or the nonexistent school janitor. Both were rarely seen at the school. Probably due to the budget cuts made not too long ago.

Through the empty, grungy hallways, she hummed 'Scheherazade'. It had gotten stuck in her head after her mother had put it on the terribly old turn-set they owned. The scratchy sound of classical music from a record was probably one of the most comforting. Perfected playing through such a filter may have been one of the strangest experiences Sakura could have ever had.

She reached the broom closet, only to find the door a crack open. Good for her, as she didn't have to ask the rumored creepy janitor for a key. Or maybe the reasons weren't that lucky after a disturbing sight had come to the dark, yet visible view.

Her boss, Tsunade, with some sort of scruffy old man. Lest we forget that Tsunade was also bare breasted, and the old man in his underwear.

She shut the door and ran, hoping that someone else could later take care of the mess right in the middle of the cafeteria.

…

"Ok… Attendance, attendance…" Kakashi mumbled while pulling out a sheet of paper. "Who do I see? I see Sasuke… Ino… Kiba…" The thirty year old scanned the room, "I usually spot Sakura the first… Maybe she's ill…" He closed the book after marking the punctual, "Ok!" The chatter of the class immediately ended. "So we have a new student, I don't know whether he's here or not but he's supposed to be…"

Ino looked around, usually Sakura was around, and she hadn't seen the walking billboard since that bump into Shino. Although it was out of the ordinary, Ino had somewhat brushed it off. Instead, her attention diverged to the new student casually walking in. His prominent slouch and irritatingly messy ponytail had gotten to her. She looked away, the only thing the least bit attractive about him was his eyes. They were uncaring, analytical, and somewhat intelligent. She knew of his type right away, or so at least she thought.

Coincidentally, an empty desk sat right beside Ino's spot, and she, already annoyed by the aura of this guy, hoped that Kakashi wouldn't look her way. It would be strange if the silver haired professor did, because he never really paid attention to her area of the classroom. Ironically, it was the first time he had ever made eye contact with a student, a particularly annoyed student. Or maybe at least in that group of students, who was it?

Ino.

The way she glared back amused Kakashi, "Ino! You're much too spoiled to have extra space right beside you… Shikamaru, you may sit there."

Ino kept a straight face, angered by the fact that there were a few more far appeasing spots in the classroom. Besides that, why did Kakashi lay eyes on her when he usually stared at Ami's chest? She was wearing a triple push up that day and placed herself in front of the class. Nonetheless, Ino accepted her unfortunate fate, slouching back into her chair. The Shikamaru guy met eyes with her, giving a nod. She rolled her baby blue eyes.

"Don't worry," Ino looked over towards Shikamaru's general direction as he said that, "I wouldn't want to sit here if the teacher didn't tell me to. Your hair is far too bright, I can't even see the board."

Ino scoffed, "You're just jealous of my lack of split ends," she flipped her ponytail in retort, "after all… I do cut it… And wash it."

He snorted, "Blonds are far too troublesome, if you only knew what that oil treatment really does to your hair…" He leaned forward into his desk, resting his head on his palms as Kakashi began speaking. Crankier than ever, Ino clenched her jaw, angered thoughts attempted to cradle her diminishing ego.

…

Sakura didn't even hear the school bell ringing. The school roof entrance had been unlocked, and she went for it as quick as she possibly could. Disturbing thoughts and images flooded her naïve mind, and staring at the crown of trees was like sandbags protecting her core of innocence from being destroyed. The day had been chillier than the others as heavy clouds covered the ceiling, it had been forecasted to rain, but Sakura could have cared less. Though the humidity wasn't doing wonders for her frizzy hair.

However messy or humid her hair may have been, she still walked in on her boss. Tsunade also happened to be her godmother. Even if she were to quit her job at the café, Sakura would still have to see Tsunade. Concluding that her life was to soon end, Sakura breathed in, trying to figure how she would face Tsunade.

Of course, right then was the "eureka" moment.

She could just _pretend._ Pretend in what way? Pretend that the woman was not Tsunade.

Mentally high fiving, she ran back inside the school the second before it was about to rain.

…

Ino viciously placed stock in its proper place. The nerves that Shikamaru guy had to suddenly make her day go from bad to worse. She huffed and puffed and blew her ego up. Her hair was of the correct luminosity, and taking advice from Japan's top hair stylists made her a smart person. She knew exactly what she was doing to her hair.

"I hate him! I hate him!" She accidentally threw a pot to the floor, smashing it into bits. It wasn't their first conversation that actually got to her, it was a little later, when Kakashi assigned them to a project. In groups of two, everyone picked who they wanted to be with, and ironically, the new kid and Ino both fell asleep during this process.

She had to deal with him. How?

"Ino, is it…" Her father came downstairs to see a fuming daughter, he leaned in forward, checking to see if there were any customers, and whispered, "that time of the month?"

She looked down.

It so was.

…

"Honey," Inoichi looked straight at his daughter, "is there something wrong… Other than your cycle?" He handed her a cup of hot chocolate, and she sighed, pulling the sleeves of her oversized sweater out to cover her palms.

"We have a new kid in my class, and he's an asshole."

"Maybe he's insecure, especially when my pretty daughter is around." He playfully punched her shoulder as he sat down with her on the sofa.

"No, I highly doubt it, if he were insecure, he would enjoy the teasing. This guy was just plain annoyed by my presence."

Inoichi thought for a moment, "There are-"

Ino sighed, interrupting, "Always gonna be people like that, I know."

Inoichi chuckled, before embracing his daughter, "Instead of reciting it and remembering it for just these moments, live with it."

Bright blue eyes glared at dull blue ones, "You cannot tell a girl she's wrong when she's on her T-O-M."

"I know, I know." He reached for the television remote where the hot chocolates were placed to cool down. A soap opera came onto screen, and it was neither of their favorites. Naturally, they flipped through channels.

"Ino, I actually have one more thing to tell you."

"What is it?"

"Free your Saturday, because we're having a family dinner with the Akimichis and my reunited family friends, the Naras."

Nara. She thought for a moment… Shikamaru Nara. No.

"I-I'm not free Saturday. Too late."

"You have to cancel-"

"It involves Sakura… and her needs… She's pregnant, no- has AIDS."

"You're going, whether you like it or not."

She scoffed.

…

It was another full house, and Sakura had found herself running around everywhere. Shizune had taken a sick day, and there was a shortage of staff. Tsunade was nowhere to be found, leaving the work all to the chef, Orochimaru. He never came out of the kitchen, and she swore that he may have owned a meth lab in the past. In other words, it was just technically Sakura who had everything under control- well, not really.

The bells rung, signifying a new customer, and just as Sakura was about to yell about the lack of tables, she recognized the senior in her high school, Itachi. Who looked almost devilish in his black leather jacket.

The customers became entertained by her reaction to the male walking in. It was her face especially that got to the spectators, which went from annoyed, to red, to an awkward smile. What really made it comedy gold was when she walked off, tripping on her on feet, only to wobble the slightest to get the haughty guffawing.

Though, Itachi didn't find it that amusing. He observed the swamped café, seeing only one worker on duty. He contemplated for a moment as he didn't want to burden Sakura, seeing as she was already struggling with holding eight orders at once.

Swiftly, but not carefully, Sakura placed all the orders, walking towards Itachi so he could get seated.

"Do you need any help?"

"Just be seated, besides, you're not wearing the uniform."

Itachi raised a brow, "Really?"

Head to toe, he was dressed crisply in black, and so was Sakura.

"Fine, but in order to equal things out, I'll make you a free cup of tea if you wait on orders."

He smiled, "Could you explain how this system works?"

Sakura gave him a note pad and explained, she had little time, and it left Itachi a little confused, but he quickly picked up.

It didn't take long for the place to swell with more people. In the blink of an eye, Sakura watched as a line of people were waiting. This wasn't good. Instead of calming the attention, Itachi roused more of it.

By the end of the night, both teens were tuckered out. As promised, she brewed the cup of tea the café was famous for. He sat casually, leaning his upper body to the left, holding his head to keep him stable at the bar.

It was quite obvious he was drained. In fact, this had been the first time she had ever seen another emotion on him other than being apathetic. Subconsciously, she took advantage of his rather airy state and stared. He was much too pretty. She almost felt as if she were like Naruto staring at a pretty girl. Nonetheless, as soon as that comparison came up, she quickly stared someplace else.

"You know, Itachi, despite you being so calm, you are quite a handful…"

Sakura plopped down on the barstool beside him, stirring her cup of tea.

He turned his head towards her. She couldn't help but watch every angle of his neck and jaw. By the end of that evening, she was sure to have memorized what every square inch of that almost stranger's neck was to look like.

"I've been getting that same phrase from many lately."

An almost pursed smile from exhaustion came from Sakura as she glanced at her drink, "Don't take my words too seriously, I tell your brother the same thing." She shyly blew on her steaming drink. For some reason, steam had entered her blood flow as well, "I never mean them."

"It's alright," a smirk appeared as he watched the clock, "I think those words were never made to hurt anyways."

There was a pounding on the locked door, and the sound of a drunken woman came with the pounding. It was none other than Tsunade who interrupted Sakura's very nice conversation with someone she admired.

"Few people know how to handle her, it's best you take your leave through the back door, when she's drunk, she an extreme misandry practitioner."

Sakura quickly ushered him out the building before he could even say goodbye. She dealt with Tsunade in the best possible manner, the quick way. That particular way never had been discussed, it was only shown.

Despite being spiteful, Sakura had been in daydream mode since Itachi walked into the shop.

Maybe the day didn't have to be as bad as she made it.

…

**End of chapter two.**


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